MAUI PRAISES NEW SOVEREIGNTY FILM
Maui Weekly - June 24, 2009
We all know the story of the annexation of Hawai`i and the arguments for and against sovereignty. We've heard and read about it ad infinitum.
However, Catherine Bauknight's film, Hawai`i, A Voice for Sovereignty, which had its world premiere at the Maui Film Festival this past Sunday, brings new insight.
Bauknight, who is also a world-renowned photographer, has produced a documentary that looks at the story with a fresh view and brings bright-eyed enthusiasm to the telling that makes the entire issue completely comprehensible and compelling....
Her telling of the imprisonment of Queen Lili`uokalani and of the attempt by the plantation owners to exterminate the Hawaiians is
heartbreaking. The photograph of the murderers imported by the plantation owners to hunt down the Hawaiians is chilling....
The consequence of the illegal annexation, according to Bauknight's film, is the subjugation and attempted eradication of the Hawaiian culture. A culture defined by the ahupua`a system, which was destroyed when Queen Lili`uokalani was overthrown.
Since that time, the film says, Hawai`i has been an occupied colony....
